Mechanical strain sensing implicated in cell shape recovery in Escherichia coli

Cell shape determination in Escherichia coli.

The rigid cell wall peptidoglycan (murein) is a single giant macromolecule whose shape determines the shape of the bacterial cell. Insight into morphogenetic mechanism(s) responsible for determining the shape of the murein sacculus itself has begun to emerge only in recent years. The discovery that MfreB and Mbl are cytoskeletal actin homologues that form helical structures extending from pole ...

Binding Proteins to Maintenance of Cell Shape in Escherichia coli

Nitric oxide-sensing mechanisms in Escherichia coli.

Exposure of Escherichia coli to nitric oxide (NO) or nitrosating agents causes significant changes in patterns of gene expression. Three recent studies have used microarrays to analyse the response of the E. coli transcriptome to NO and nitrosative stress. Drawing on the array data, I review our current understanding of the E. coli regulatory systems that are involved.

Cell responses only partially shape cell-to-cell variations in protein abundances in Escherichia coli chemotaxis.

Cell-to-cell variations in protein abundance in clonal cell populations are ubiquitous in living systems. Because protein composition determines responses in individual cells, it stands to reason that the variations themselves are subject to selective pressures. However, the functional role of these cell-to-cell differences is not well understood. One way to tackle questions regarding relations...

Cell envelope and shape of Escherichia coli K12.

Rod-shaped "ghosts" that are free of murein have been isolated from E. coli. The shape of these "ghosts" is maintained by a unit membrane soluble in sodium dodecyl sulfate. Ghosts consist of about 20-30% phospholipid (almost exclusively phosphatidylethanolamine) and 50-60% protein; a large fraction of the remaining material is lipopolysaccharide. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis revea...